1. Field of the Invention
The inventions relates to a display system, and in particular, a head mounted display system capable of allowing individuals to view the environment surrounding the individual or the environment surrounding the vehicle in which the individual is located.
2. Related Art
In conventional vehicles, for example automobiles, cars and trucks, the driver of the vehicle steering the vehicle in general observes the environment surrounding the vehicle mainly by looking out from the inside of the vehicle to the outside through the windshield, side windows, and the rear window of the vehicle, either directly or indirectly by rear view mirrors. This causes a lot of problems.
First, the view out of the windows may be obstructed by structural parts of the vehicle, for example a pillar, window frames, head rests, or occupants of the vehicle, or may be degraded by rain or snow causing reflections especially at night or by oncoming light from the sun or from headlights of other vehicles. Additionally, certain areas in the surrounding of the vehicle, the so called blind angles, are hardly observable by the driver by using only the rear view mirrors without turning the head to the rear direction of the vehicle. Furthermore, in a conventional vehicle the driver has to observe several displays of the vehicle, for example a tachometer, control and warning lights, a navigation system, a radio system, and a mobile phone. This causes the driver in a conventional vehicle to direct his view away from the main driving direction into the direction of these displays increasing the danger of an accident.
Furthermore, also a rider of a motorbike or a bicycle suffers from problems mentioned above, e.g., observing the rear of the bike, monitoring displays of the bike, and retrieving information from a navigation system. Finally, also a hiker or a tourist visiting a city or the like, currently faces the problem, when using a mobile navigation device, that he/she has to hold the navigation device in his/her hands and does not pay attention to the way or path he/she is walking, when looking at the navigation device.
A need therefore exists for a display system that provides for the person, or user of a vehicle, to be able to view his or her surroundings without requiring the individual's line of sight to be diverted from his or her main direction of movement.